Having links on your website is important not just for user experience but also for your SEO efforts. In fact, appropriate links are essential when you want to improve your search engine rankings, whether you’re a small local business or a large enterprise.
Although inbound and outbound links are both helpful, internal links, including anchor links, play a more significant role in SEO than you might think. So how exactly do anchor links and internal links help SEO? We have the answers here.
Internal Linking Supports Site Indexing
Internal links are links on your site that link to another page on your site. Although internal linking may seem like a waste of time, it’s well worth the effort to improve your rankings.
These links help support user experience because it makes it simple for people to find information on your website without having to navigate there themselves—all they have to do is click on a descriptive link. This can also help decrease your bounce rate.
However, internal linking also has another important purpose: it helps Google properly index your site.
New content can take some time to index, but internal links can help speed up the process because they make it easier for search engines such as Google to understand what your pages are about and how important they are compared to other pages on your website.
Anchor Links Improve User Experience and Bounce Rate
Anchor links are links that direct users to another part of the same page. For example, in a blog article that’s thousands of words long, anchor links help users get where they want to go without having to scroll down the page.
These internal links are helpful for a few reasons. Anchor links:
- Help optimize your content and your user experience
- Reduce bounce rate so visitors stay on your site for longer
- Make information more accessible to your users
- Can improve your rankings with minimal effort
Since anchor links act as internal links for a single page of content, they boost site indexing and can help your webpage or article get indexed faster.
Anchor links can also help improve the readability and organization of your content while guiding readers through your article or page without wasting their time and reducing confusion. By properly using anchor links on your website, you can improve both user experience and SEO.
Best Practices When Using Internal and Anchor Links on Your Website
Although SEO is crucial, user experience is more important. So when using internal and anchor links on your website, keep SEO and user-friendliness in mind with these best practices:
- Always accurately describe what you are linking to
- Use keywords or phrases as part of the anchor text
- Regularly perform site audits to correct broken or outdated links
When used appropriately, anchor and internal links are an integral part of any robust SEO strategy for digital marketing.
Find Out More by Contacting Gazz Digital
How do your internal and anchor links fit into your current SEO strategy? Find out by contacting Gazz Digital to learn more about how internal links can maximize your SEO efforts for a more impactful digital presence.
